And the Queen Came Down From the Mountains Cold
by ThinkChimerical
Summary: AU: As a child, Elsa was sent away for her sister's safety. On Anna's coronation day, completely unaware that she had an older sister, Elsa comes to challenge her for the throne. Anna is banished, and must fight her way back to the "Snow Queen's Palace", while everyone else must deal with Elsa's tyrannical reign. Elsa herself must face the monster she has become. Dark!Elsa.


***Author's Notes* One of the issues I had with Frozen is the subject of both Anna and Elsa's isolation. Elsa, I can understand, but Anna? To me, it didn't make any sense. To remedy this, I wrote a scenario where Elsa is banished from a young age, hopefully allowing for more character development. What follows will be an alternate version of the movie, in which Elsa is more of a (sympathetic) villain, or even an anti-hero, instead of a purely static character. The origin of Elsa's powers will be explained in this story as well. *Advisory* I own nothing. Please, read, review and enjoy. If you have any questions, please PM me. **

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Prologue: Exile

I have been waiting for this day for many years.

Mother is dead. Father is dead. I am all alone in this world, save for my sister. My sister…

Anna. Anna, _precious_ Anna. Adored by all of her people. (In all truth, they are rightfully _mine_.) She rules below in the valley green, unaware, ignorant of _me_, her loving sister, who gave up everything for _her_. They sent me away because of her. They _abandoned_ me because of her.

_Anna, beloved, I never meant to hurt you. But oh, just look at how you've hurt me. _

"It's for your own good," said Father, as he exiled me to the northernmost mountain. "You don't want to hurt your sister again, do you?" Of course I didn't. I loved her more than myself. My own life was nothing compared to hers. How could possibly I say no? I was only a girl, a little girl. Guilty. So very, very guilty.

_Guiltier now than I was then. _

I begged Mother not to send me away. I promised to be good, so very, very good. She didn't look at me, or even respond. Her ears were deaf to my cries, her heart stone to my tears. She never disagreed with Father, even when it came to her own children. So to the mountains I went, to the abandoned Summer Palace, never to return until I learned how to control my powers. But I never forgot Father's promise to me.

_"One day, when you are older, and after we've…fixed this problem, you will come and rule as queen. You are the rightful heir, after all." _

I nodded silently, obediently. I did not think much of it at the time. I was more concerned with whether any of them would ever come to visit me. They never did. _Too dangerous_, they always said in their letters to me. As the years went by, their letters became fewer and fewer. In Father's last letter to me, he sent me a pair of stupid gloves, and the advice: "Conceal it, don't feel it."

What an idiot. By that time, I was completely alone, and in full capacity of my powers. He didn't understand. He didn't care to.

To keep me from going mad within my isolation, I had been granted ten servants to tend to my every need. They were sworn to secrecy, and went away merrily, never dreaming of the fate that would befall them during their stay in the Summer Palace. They weren't merry for long. With each passing year, they grew more paranoid, and I? I grew more powerful. One day, I struck. Truthfully, I can't remember exactly what happened, but when I woke, they were all dead.

_Frozen to death. _

It was hard, you know. The remorse. Or rather, the lack of it. I felt…nothing. It was a shock, how little their lives mattered to me. It was a sad state of affairs, of course, but what was to be done? You cannot expect a monster to be sorry for its crimes. You cannot expect a monster to feel at all.

_I think _my_ heart is frozen. _

Those long, lonely years of solitude gave me time to think, all the time in the world. I thought of Father's promise constantly. One day, on one fine day, Mother and Father would die, and Anna would be left alone.

And I would be queen, with all of the warmth and companionship I could ever want.

Anna, oh beloved Anna. How your people worship you, praise you, _love_ you. And me? They don't even know my name. I'm just a monster, only a monster, a story told to scare children at night.

_Beware, beware the frozen heart. _

Soon, that is going to change. Soon we will be together again, and nothing will be able to split us apart. Just like it used to be. Together forever, locked inside the cold embrace of everlasting winter. Winter is loving, accepting, _eternal_.

Accept your fate, Arendelle. The Snow Queen is coming.

_I am the rightful heir. _


End file.
